Clemson Study: Beer Pong Transfers High Amounts Of Bacteria

When playing drinking games at a tailgate, bacteria on the beer pong ping-pong ball and scientific research, are probably the last think you'd be thinking about.

But a student research team at Clemson University took the concept to the lab.

They tested hundreds of ping-pong balls from random games of beer pong to find out how many germs get on the balls when the throwers miss their marks.

"I would consider it a Russian roulette you're playing by eating something that's been in contact with the floor or a dirty surface," said Clemson Food Safety professor, Dr. Paul Dawson, who led the student researchers.

The students used the scientific method as they worked to find first, if bacteria transfers to the ping pong ball when it hits a surface.

They discovered groupings of bacteria like Strep, Staph, and E-coli/Salmonella, but mostly they looked for the amount of bacteria that transferred. They found thousands to millions of bacteria per ball, which is a very high transfer rate.